$200 million wind farm in the works

WE Energies hopes to build a new wind farm to meet the state's renewable energy mandate.

The utility company hasn't picked the exact location yet but it's looking at somewhere in central Wisconsin.

Irissol Arce at WE Energies says the size of the wind generators is still up in the air but there are plans for fifty to sixty turbines that will generate one hundred megawatts of electricity. That's roughly enough electricity to power twenty-two-thousand average homes depending on the size of those turbines.

There hasn't been a new wind farm in Wisconsin since 2001 but this may be the first of many since the state has mandated that ten percent of the state's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2015.

WE Energies has contracted with FPL Energy of Florida to secure land leases from farmers and get the necessary permits to build the wind turbines at a cost of two hundred million dollars.

FPL also developed the twenty turbine wind farm now operating in Dodgeville.